Mitakuye Oyasin

Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ (All Are Related) is a phrase from the Lakota language. It reflects the world view of interconnectedness held by the Lakota people of North America.^[1] This concept and phrase is expressed in many Yankton Sioux prayers,^[2] as well as by ceremonial people in other Lakota communities.^[3][4]

The phrase translates in English as "all my relatives," "we are all related," or "all my relations." It is a prayer of oneness and harmony with all forms of life: other people, animals, birds, insects, trees and plants, and even rocks, rivers, mountains and valleys.^[2]

From work in the 1940s, American scholar Joseph Epes Brown wrote a study of Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ and its relevance in the Sioux ideology of "underlying connection" and "oneness.”^[5]